Thesis Defense Request Application

PhD Thesis

The PhD thesis reports on the original research work developed throughout your Doctoral training program and is, therefore, its culmination. It must have the approval of your tutor and advisor/s, as well as comply with the quality and format requirements established by the Academic Committee of the PhD Program (CAPD).

It will be defended in a public event (in Spanish or in the usual languages ​​of scientific communication in its area of ​​knowledge) before a panel of experts who will carry out its evaluation. The CAPD will establish the necessary requirements to authorize the public exhibition (or deposit) of the thesis and will propose the members of the evaluation panel.

The Dean of the Doctoral School will be responsible for approving said proposal and authorizing the defense act. 

Stages of the PROCESS FOR THE THESIS DEFENSE REQUEST 

Once the finished PhD thesis document (adhering to the template uc3m) has received the approval of your thesis tutor and advisor/s, you must send, to the Coordinator of the CAPD, the document in PDF format along with a proposal for two external experts who will review and report on your thesis.  The expert proposal template may be found here.

• Thesis front page and structure template uc3m
• For LaTeX documents, please refer to our Library's Guide for LaTeX documents.
• Check the Student Guide for the Thesis defense Request Application on SIGMA - STES Student Guide Part 1
• Table-Summary of estimated timeline and application status - STES Status and Timeline Table
• Route of the defense process

How to submit my request? 

You must use the SIGMA platform (LINK) and verify all the information on your student file: personal data, thesis title, correct indication of the thesis tutor and advisor, doctoral activity report, mandatory training, etc. You need to provide: the document that you consider final for the thesis, a proposal of two external experts for review, your CV, technical and non-technical abstracts, TESEO report file, and your signed Activity Report from SIGMA.  When you complete all fields and submit your defense request, it will be reviewed by the administrative manager of the PhD Program, and the two external experts will be contacted to request their reports. 

At any time, you may check on SIGMA which stage of the process your request application is at, as well as receiving email notifications for each step that the application goes through and/or the considerations from the CAPD.

How to start the application and which timeline should I consider? 

As a general rule, a minimum of 24 months must have elapsed in the Doctoral program before starting the defense procedures.

Once you meet the conditions to start the process, it normally takes a minimum of 15 weeks (university vacation period not included) to carry out the entire process and finalize the defense.

Remember that the deposit of the thesis must begin before your maximum period of stay in the Doctoral Program expires.

What is the deadline to deposit my PhD thesis?

It depends on the date you start your studies and your dedication to the doctoral project: there is a maximum period of 5 years - including an extension of one final year - if your dedication is "full time"; There is a maximum period of 8 years - including an extension of one final year - if your dedication is “part-time” (in mixed cases, the maximum time will depend on the start dates of your training and the periods with different dedication that you have maintained). Please check your deadline well in advance - in your electronic file - and formalize the request at least two and a half months in advance of your deadline to start the deposit.

Which activities must be included in my Doctoral Activity Report-IAD? 

Throughout your doctoral training, you will have recorded the training and research activities carried out and expressly those required by your Doctorate Program (publications, presentation at doctoral meetings, thesis pre-defense seminar, presentations at conferences, research stays, etc. ).

VERY IMPORTANT: if you opt to obtain the International Mention / Industrial Mention / International Co-tutorship Diligence, you must register the documentation that accredits it.

International Distinction

Industrial PhD

International Cotutelle 

The CAPD will request from the designated external experts to submit, within a month, the informed reports on your thesis, justifying their opinion and/or suggest changes or corrections. ( template for external expert report )

These experts may be part of your future Defense Evaluation Committee, and eventually be considered as international experts for those PhD candidates opting to the International Distinction.

Considered the external reports, the Coordinator of the CAPD may ask the PhD candidate to perform changes or additions to the original thesis, giving the candidate one month to reply to the observations. The PhD candidate will submit, if necessary, a new thesis document, annexing an explanatory improvement report on the improvements performed. ( template for Improvement Report)

How will I know the results of the external expert reports?

Once the proposal of the two experts is approved by the CAPD, the administration staff of the Doctoral School will be contacting the experts and retrieving the reports. 

You will be able to know their content and whether or not changes/corrections have been suggested through your thesis advisor and the Coordinator of the CAPD.

Can I submit an updated version of the PhD thesis?

In case you need to perform any changes in the thesis document, you will need to submit the new version through the SIGMA platform, as well as attaching an “improvement report” explaining the changes introduced. This new version of the thesis will be reviewed once again by your advisor and the CAPD. As long as the PhD thesis is approved by the CAPD, your application will enter into the next stage: Plagiarism analysis. 

When the CAPD considers your final thesis document is ready for its deposit, they will send the thesis to the Doctoral School UC3M to proceed with the plagiarism analysis check, according to the Code of Good Practice for the Managing Plagiarism of PhD Theses of the Doctoral School.

The definitive version of the thesis document that will be follow the process until the defense session (deposit, submission of the thesis to the members of the Defense Evaluation Committee, custody in our institutional repository e-archivo uc3m) must be the document that successfully passes the plagiarism analysis.

How is the plagiarism analysis conducted?

The Administration of the Doctoral School will manage the analysis with the support of the Library Service throughout its process: a Coincidence Report (IC) will be issued for you to interpret it and provide the corresponding justification for these coincidences to the CAPD, considering the quotations and the section “PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED CONTENT” on your thesis document. This interpretation will be used to prepare a Reasoned Report (IR), by which the CAPD will provide their opinion on whether or not the plagiarism analysis can be considered successfully passed.

The aforementioned Reasoned Report will be submitted to the Dean of the Doctoral School for their approval. 

Both the Coordinator of the CAPD and the Doctoral School may ask you to review the thesis document after evaluating the Coincidence Report.

Should I prepare a new version of the thesis  as a consequence of the plagiarism analysis?

It is not desirable, but it might happen that the Coincidence Report  highlights incorrect quotation or bad practice, in which case, the CAPD or the Doctoral School will request changes/modifications, or even fully reject the thesis defense application.

How to cite your sources

Once the plagiarism analysis is passed, the CAPD will authorize the deposit (or public exposure) of your thesis in font of the academic community of the Department for 15 natural days.

The deposit will be conducted via a link to “uc3m Cloud” and you will receive precise information on this process. The Administration at the Doctoral School will be in charge of the deposit procedures. You may download from the SIGMA platform a document that certifies the thesis is at the deposit stage.

After 15 natural days, the Doctoral School will retrieve the feedback and existing allegations, if any, and will proceed to inform all interested parties.

During this period, we suggest you start preparing the proposal of members of the Defense Evaluation Committee with the assistance of your thesis advisor/s and start completing the required information on the platform.

Check the Student Guide - STES Student Guide Part 2

VERY IMPORTANT: if you are opting for the International or Industrial Distinction, or International Cotutelle, you will need to review again if your activities are properly registered in our system and justified, so you need to make sure that all requisites are met during this last stage.

International Distinction 

Industrial PhD

International Cotutelle

Once the deposit is finished, you must prepare the proposal for the thesis defense, including to provide the information of the Evaluation Committee members, through the SIGMA platform. This proposal will be evaluated and approved in the first instance by the CAPD, and submitted to the Dean of the Doctoral School for the definitive approval of the defense session and designation of the Evaluation Committee.

Check the Student Guide - STES Student Guide Part 2

Who can be part of the Evaluation Committee?

The Evaluation Committee of the thesis defense will be composed by three nominal members (President, Secretary, Spokesperson) and one reserve member, all of them having a PhD title and accredited research experience. In all cases, the Committee will be composed by a majority external to uc3m and its collaborating centers and institutions.

Cannot be part of the Evaluation Committee:

• The thesis tutor or advisor/s.
• The person responsible for mentoring an international research stay abroad.
• Any co-author of the articles and essays published by the PhD candidate.

Is there a timeline for the authorization of the thesis defense?

Every week, except during University vacation periods, the proposals for thesis defense receive approval, as long as they comply with all the requisites and conditions for eligibility, including accreditation documentation for the Distinctions and the information on the Committee members being approved by the CAPD. You can check the dates of the approval calendar on this website.

The administrative staff of your campus’ Doctoral School will notify the date of authorization of the defense. The defense session must take place within 15 days after, and a maximum of 3 months after, the date of approval.

What are the enrollment and defense fees that I need to consider?

To be able to proceed with the defense session, you will need to make the payment for the corresponding academic fees:

• The annual enrollment for the current academic year
• Thesis defense fee

The Doctoral School will provide the information to complete the pending payments.

The defense will take place in a public session at uc3m facilities*. The thesis will be defended in the usual languages for scientific communication in its field of knowledge.

The Administration of the Doctoral School will be responsible for informing and convening the designated Committee, sending a copy of the doctoral thesis in digital format. It will also be in charge of the logistical organization of the defense event and adequate dissemination. 

(*) in exceptionally justified cases, the Dean of the Doctoral School may authorize the defense session happening in facilities external to uc3m, as well as the use of online resources for remote attendance of a Committee member, if deemed necessary.

Organization for Defense Evaluations with remote attendance

They will follow the instructions from the Dean of the Doctoral School - Instrucción_Procedimiento para la organización de tribunales por videoconferencia

1. Hybrid defense session

The request for remote participation for Committee members will be submitted by the PhD candidate and the thesis advisor to the Academic Committee of the PhD Program (CAPD), which will review and authorize the petition, considering the interest for the University and to help with the course of the defense session process.

2. Remote defense session

Given the in-person nature of the PhD studies at UC3M, the remote participation of the doctoral student in the defense act will, in any case, be exceptional, and for unforeseen reasons, requiring a reasoned request, which must be documented. and must be approved by the Directorate of the Doctoral School, after consideration by the CAPD (as per the following template)

After the thesis defense session, the Evaluation Committee will announce the overall grade awarded, according to the following scale: Fail, Pass, Good or Excellent

Cum Laude Distinction and Outstanding Thesis Award

For a thesis that obtains the grade of Excellent, the Committee will reunite in private again to determine the concession of the Cum Laude distinction after a round of secret vote. If all votes for the Cum Laude distinction are unanimous, the Committee will propose the thesis for the concession of this distinction by the Dean of the University.

Likewise, if the Cum Laude distinction has been unanimous, the Committee will also cast their secret vote for the PhD thesis to be eligible for the Outstanding Thesis Award at uc3m.

Minutes

The members of the Evaluation Committee must complete and sign the Evaluation Minutes (Actas) - grade minutes, Cum Laude minutes, documents towards the participation in the Outstanding Thesis Awards- which will be archived by the staff of the Doctoral School.

Thesis archiving and publication on the institutional repository e-archivo

Once the doctoral thesis is succesfully evaluated, the University will take care of archiving it in electronic format in the open access institutional repository E-Archivo and will provide the information and access to the Ministry of Universities for the appropriate purposes.

(*) In exceptional circumstances approved by the Academic Committee of the Program, the publication in the institutional repository E-Archivo of the doctoral theses subject to a confidentiality clause will be made, if applicable, when the protection or transfer of knowledge process has been completed, circumstance that the PhD student will duly communicate to the University.

Once the thesis has been defended and evaluated, you must submit your application for the official PhD title, issued by the Spanish Ministry of Universities.

The request and payment for the issuance of the title must be done through our Sede Electrónica uc3m

In approximately 4-6 months since the moment you requested and paid for the title, you will receive notification for you to pick up the original diploma from our office (with proper identification or third-party authorization).

You may also request and download, at any time, the Academic Certificate for having completed your PhD studies through this website.

Legalization of Degree Certificates

Upon completion of the PhD studies, the degree certificate can be legalized as proof of your qualifications in other countries. Please follow the indications on the following website: Legalization of Degrees